Kathie Lee Giffords isn’t a fan of religion, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a powerful relationship with Jesus.
“I can’t stand religion,” Giffords told Fox News Digital. “Religion keeps people in chains. And Jesus comes to set us free.
“What do you want? You want to go somewhere and sit on the same bench week after week and hear the same things that don’t change your life at all. Or do you want to be with a living creator of all things Want to walk with someone who loves you and has a plan for your life and just wants you to be in fellowship with him? That’s the only thing I’m interested in.”
Gifford relied on her faith and relationship with God during the most difficult times, saying, “Without it I never would have made it”.
“I would have been in a mental asylum without Jesus,” she said. “I’ve been through a lot of shit in my life. I have been blessed beyond belief. But I had a lot of things that became very public that caused me to stay away for a long time and caused a lot of damage to my family, to everything I owned.
“I was already holding Jesus’ hand. When you go through the things I went through in the last, you know, 20 years, you just hang on. You just stick tight. You are already there. You already have them. And I know people always talk about, you know, people coming to God in a fox hole. Good. Whenever you come to God it is a good thing. The better thing is that you get to know him early in your life and then stay connected to him throughout your life.
The 71-year-old has been a longtime student of the Bible, so much so that she skipped her high school prom and graduation to travel to Israel for a conference on Bible prophecy.
“I’m more nervous now because I’ve learned so much,” he joked.
But studies were important for him.
“There are a lot of terrible translations of the Bible. And if you’re studying a terrible translation, you won’t learn anything that will strengthen your faith or give you power in your life. And there are a lot of churches around – that’s what they’re doing. They live on it. You can’t grow unless you feast. And then the scripture talks about how my people perish for lack of knowledge. And I was getting destroyed.”
Gifford focused on Greek and Hebrew teachings, which led her to the stories of King Herod, the focus of her recent book, “Herod and Mary: The True Story of the Tyrant King and the Mother of the Risen Savior.” Is.
“I learned so much about Herod that I came back, and I told my son, I said, ‘Cody, get me every book there is on Herod,'” she recalls. “If Jesus is the greatest story ever told, then Herod is one of the greatest stories never told.”
Cody encouraged his mother to write the story, which he originally envisioned as a film, and assigned him a co-writer, Dr. Brian M. Litfin, who had a Ph.D. Yes, helped in finding it. in Ancient Christianity from the University of Virginia.
The former “Today” host said the story is ultimately a thriller, based on the idea that “evil has always been there.”
He added, “What I feel in the world today is a much greater presence of fear.” “People are scared now. Even people who have a lot of money and live in beautiful houses behind big doors and guarded by men with guns are afraid. Everyone is more scared now than ever, because the world is so turned upside down and it doesn’t make any sense. And it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”
But diving deep into Bible study doesn’t just provide relaxation. There is some entertainment in it too.
“The Bible is full of incredible stories of drama and betrayal and, you know, bestiality, whatever you want. It’s found in the Bible. People don’t even read it. They will discover what an incredibly fascinating book this is. And I’ve been reading it all my life. And not just reading it, but actually studying it.
“We footnote every place in the story where we find it from a place other than Scripture. We didn’t make anything. We’ve tried to base it on what actually exists in church history. So, people may say, ‘Well, it’s not the Bible.’ We didn’t say it was like that, you know? Do you want a good story or what?”
The former “Today” host also recorded an audiobook version of “Herod & Mary” just days before his hip surgery.
Unfortunately, during her recovery, she also fell down the stairs and broke her pelvic bone “because I was stupid.”
“I thought I was stronger than I was,” Gifford said. He recalled that he “kept 300 books around for a few hours” in preparation for a signing. Then, the next day, a friend was picking her up, and when she ran to meet him, she fell and broke her pelvis in two places.
After eight days in the hospital, Giffords received physical therapy and was walking faster than expected and putting weight on her leg.
Shortly thereafter, she spoke to her doctor, whom she described as “a man of God”, asking him why she was feeling the “excruciating pain” associated with that kind of injury, even though she was not. Was. Even using painkillers.
She showed him the X-rays and pointed to her new hip and pelvis, and he found that they were “perfect,” and she told him, “Absolutely.”
“‘You have made a full recovery by the grace of God,'” he told her. “‘And now you can have a glass of wine.'”
Fox News Digital spoke with Gifford ahead of her one-time “Today” co-host Hoda Kotb’s retirement announcement.
“Herod and Mary: The True Story of the Tyrant King and the Mother of the Risen Savior” is available now.
